Ensemble Competition

The Flute Ensemble Competition began in 1994 as part of the Melbourne Flute Festival. Since then it has become a big annual event bringing in flute ensembles from schools, communities, and privately-run groups from all across Victoria.

The Victorian Flute Guild’s 23rd Flute Ensemble Competition was held at Methodist Ladies College, in Kew, on Sunday, May 22nd this year. The amazing variety of talent today was showcased with over 80 entries in over 17 hours of performances.

Flute teachers believe in the vision of flute players of all ages and levels and are promoting getting together to make fine music, in which to learn, to study and perform. Our schools seem to be encouraging and supporting the Flute Ensemble and flute teachers are embracing the wide range of repertoire available.

Thank you to all the directors, conductors and performers in all the groups who have worked so well together to play at their best in the competition and with such enthusiasm.Also thanks to the parents and friends for their encouragement and support of our flute players. Everything we can give to our students to encourage new goals, to achieve and stimulate the learning experience, generate motivation and then to enjoy the journey of performance.

The age groups in the competition include Primary Sections, 14 yrs and under, 16 years and under, 18 years and under, and Open Sections.

There are 4 categories of ensemble types in each age group/section including – Duets, Duets + One Other Instrument, Small Ensembles of 3 to 5 Players, and Large Ensembles of greater than 6 Players.

There is also a Novice Section which has two sections of Small and Large Ensembles where we hope to encourage community groups and mixed age/mixed ability ensembles to experience a performance opportunity in a friendly environment. This gives us a total of 22 sections.

It is pleasing to see that most of the sections were again well supported with a great number of new large flute ensembles in each age group.

Their comments are always encouraging with constructive criticism to raise the level of playing even greater.

Our announcers and desk staff have a busy day and Igreatly appreciate this support and thank you so much. Also a thank you to the MLC security staff for keeping an eye on things all day.

The Victorian Flute Guild continues to support this event to encourage participation and enthusiasm to perform in different size ensembles.

We can now look forward to and prepare our groups for next year’s 24th Flute Ensemble Competition and hope to inspire more emerging flute players to develop fine music performing skills and enjoy working with other performers.